Beatles Guitars & Gear

1961: 1957 Gretsch 6128 Duo Jet semi-solid
mahogany body, black finish, silver pickguard; Serial #21179:
Harrison found this one through a member of a band called the
Delacardoes, who got a tip from a taxi driver. The driver, Ivan
Hayward, was a former merchant seaman who was planning on emigrating
and had decided to sell the Gretsch Duo Jet he'd bought at Sam Goody's in New York City in 1957. "God knows how I managed to get
75 quid together," Harrison recalls in the Anthology book.
"It seemed like a fortune. I remember having it in my inside
pocket, thinking 'I hope nobody mugs me.' " (As it turned out, he
only had £70 at the time and had to leave an IOU for the
balance -- (Which henever got around to paying.) The Duo Jet
sported "humped block" inlays, a Bigsby vibrato and two single-coil
DeArmond pickups. Harrison used this sturdy, stylish beauty for
the early singles, the Please Please Me sessions and
innumerable shows in Hamburg, at the Cavern, the Casbah and
throughout Britain until late spring '63. Then, after getting a
swankier Gretsch, Harrison gave this instrument to Hamburg mate
Klaus Voormann, who changed one pickup and hung on to it for about
20 years before giving it back to Harrison. Sometime in late '85 or
'86 this guitar was sent to guitar tech Alan Rogan, who gave it to
luthier Roger Giffin for
the rehab work. "I had to rewire it," Giffin recalls, "because true
to form with old Gretsch guitars, the original wiring was
disintegrating." Rogan "was working with George on and off at the
time. He also brought in a '50s Strat and George's original
Rickenbacker 12 string. I refinished the Strat matte black (I've
seen George playing that in a video) but I'm not sure what I did to
the Rickenbacker."

Regarding the Duo Jet, Melvyn Hiscock recalls
that Giffin also "had a spare DeArmond pickup which he fitted and
generally gave the guitar the once-over. I was Roger's shop manager
and was there when all this happened. I even got to play 'Twist and
Shout' and a few other Beatle tunes on it." Harrison put the
restored Duo Jet to use on Cloud Nine (1987), whose cover it
graces. Pictured above is Gretsch's authentic G6128-57 reissue.

Gretsch George Harrison Duo Jet Models 1957 & 1962

When the Beatles started to get famous in the
early 60s, George bought a 1962 Chet Atkins "Country Gentleman"
Gretsch guitar. George can be seen using this one more often
than anything else on stage. I am given to understand he didn't
use it as much in the studio recordings. There were many attempts at reissuing the Country
Gentleman as George played it and finally Gretsch has got it
totally right.

The Gretsch logo on the plexi pickguard is the only
marking, two Filter-trons, Grover Imperials and even the dual
mutes have been brought back.

Ed Roman now
offers The "English Gentleman" Jet black version to commemorate
the black & white TV . Affectionately dubbed the" Ed Sullivan
tribute model" which was issued in very limited quantities, after the cancellation
of the show and 40 years to the month when the Beatles appeared
on it in February of 1964.

I can remember being glued to the TV set every Sunday night
to see those first 3 shows. I was 14 and I wanted to be a
Beatle.

George was always my favorite Beatle.
Our birthdays are even the same.

Ed Roman has Gretsch's exact reproduction of
the Original George Harrison Black Country Gentleman.
Ed Roman Guitar
King offers both versions of this guitar in the deep original
brown color. Ed Roman also offers both versions in the Jet black
color.

George's Country Gentleman got damaged beyond repair in
this mishap.

There are other rumors that the guitar was stolen. I
have it on good authority that 3 of the Beatlesguitars were stolen
from a rehearsal studio.

One was George's 65 Rickenbacker and
one was one of Paul's Hofner's, The third one has not been revealed
to me.

George replaced his Broken/Stolen guitar with another Gretsch
Chet Atkins model, the Tennessee Rose.

The Tennessee Rose is a little
smaller than the Gent, and also utilized the Electro tone body with
the painted F holes.

George can be seen
playing this guitar in their second US tour, including the massive
first Shea stadium concert in 1965. Sometimes the
Tennessee Rose with Hi Lo Trons is referred to as "The Ticket To
Ride Guitar"

Gretsch 1962 "Ticket to Ride" Reissue 6119HT

Beatle Bass

Hilton Valentine of The Animals & George Harrison were the first guitar players that ever
influenced me, I was 14 years old when the Beatles came on
Ed Sullivan and my world was changed forever. I moved on to
Jeff Beck, & Leslie West and Lindsey Buckingham but years later I
came back to really appreciating the incredible talent that
was George Harrison. George was my favorite Beatle and
ironically the only one of them I never actually met face to
face.

Today almost 40 years later I am amazed every time I
listen to the early Beatle tracks. Remember, George Harrison
was the youngest of the Beatles and was only 19 when he was
recording all those great songs in the early 60's. I cannot
imagine how and where he learned to play so well.

Ed Roman

This Grouping was Specially Ordered Without Mutes Back in 2004
There are Only 8 of these in the world !!
Here they all are in one picture !!!!
Usually There Is A Mute System Included No Extra Charge

This Grouping was Specially Ordered Without MutesUsually There Is A Mute System Included No Extra Charge

George's original Country Gentleman was brown. Many people
(including myself) thought it was black.

After all, we all saw the Beatles on black & white TV. Plus,
brown isn't a very rock n' roll color.
Above a picture of George with a refinished black Gretsch
Country Gentleman.

These are again available by special arrangement from
Gretsch & Ed
Roman Guitars Las Vegas.

Originally This guitar
was known as the Ed Sullivan Commemorative
Model. Now we are simply calling it the "British
Gentleman."

Special Hard Shell Case Included.

Carl "Blue Suede Shoes" Perkins

Legends of
Rock

Carl
spent eight great days with Paul and Linda, along with
George and Ringo, Stevie Wonder, and the legendary Beatles
producer George Martin, with whom Paul owned a studio on the
island.

The
studio was in Paul's house, while Martin had his own house
elsewhere on the property. Carl described Martin's house as
a castle. That's where he stayed for the week.

"As
the time was drawing near for me to go home, I was sitting
out on the patio," Carl told Dominic Ambrosio and his
camera, his guitar sitting on his lap and looking like a
part of him. "And I was thinking how lucky Carl Perkins was.

I'm
kind of sentimental. Sometimes I can sing it but I can't say
it, and that night before, I wrote a song. And in the
morning, I went down to the studio and said to Paul and
Linda, I'm not good at saying good-bye, but I wrote this
song last night, and I want to play it for you.' It was
called 'My Old Friend' . . ."

Carl
sang it now for Dominic with the extra emotional emphasis on
the refrain: My old friend, won't you think about
me every now and then. . .
"Well, halfway through the song, I see Paul is really
crying, tears flowing down his face," Carl
said. "And he stepped outside. I said to Linda, 'Linda, I
didn't mean to upset him.' She says, 'Carl, how did you
know?'

I
said, 'Darlin', I don't know what yer talkin' about.
How did I know what?' "

John
Lennon had been killed only months before outside his
apartment building, the Dakota in New York. Linda explained
that, although it wasn't publicly known, only days before
his death, she and Paul had visited John and Yoko at the
Dakota.

At the
end of the visit, as they were saying good-bye, John said to
Paul, "Think of me every now and then,
my old friend." "Linda put her arms around me," Carl
said now on a cold January day in Tennessee sixteen years
later, "and she said, 'Thank you, Carl, he needed that.' It
was a touching moment and it was a frightful moment for me."

The
song had just come to him out of the blue that night as he
sat alone on the deck off his room in George Martin's
castle. And the strange thing, he later told Rick, was that
he didn't write the song down--something he always did.
Whenever he thought of a lyric, let alone an entire song, he
had to write it down right away or he would lose it. "Rick,"
Carl

said,
"that song was with me. I couldn't get it out of my head" He
was sure John had written the song from beyond and given it
to him for Paul.

Gretsch
Info On Beatles Guitars

Gretsch Duo Jet 6128 (1957
model)

George Harrison later described the Gretsch Duo Jet
as his "first good guitar." He bought it second-hand
in 1961 for around £75 (around $2,200 in today's
money), apparently after seeing an ad in a paper.

Harrison played the Duo Jet through the Hamburg days
and Cavern years, tours of Europe and America in
1964 and on many Beatles recordings. The guitar,
which looks almost identical to the one photographed
above, was a 1957 model. It is still owned by the
Harrison Estate today.

Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman

George bought two Gretsch Chet Atkins Country
Gentleman guitars in 1963. Both guitars were very
similar, one had two control-knob mutes which could
be used to "damp" the strings, such as the one
above.

The Gretsch Chet Atkins Country Gentleman had been
designed in collaboration with American country
guitarist Chet Atkins, Harrison was a big Chet
Atkins fan and it came through on his playing style.

George acquired his first Country Gentleman, a 1962
model, in May 1963.

Gretsch Jet Fire Bird

In
1963, George Harrison used a Gretsch Jet Fire Bird,
like the one above.

George told the press that "the guitar belonged to
somebody else", & that he was just trying it out at
the Cavern Club in Liverpool, where the Beatles
performed regularly in their pre-fame days.

In 1964, "The year that of the
Beatles ", George Harrison acquired a new Gretsch
Chet Atkins Tennessean.

The guitar was probably manufactured in 1963
no documentation exists.
George used this guitar on many recordings,
including Ticket To Ride, Mr Moonlight & Feel Fine. He also used it
alot live.

John Lennon

Gretsch Chet Atkins 6120 (1962 model)
John Lennon used this guitar in studio sessions
1966,
There are some pictures of him with it during the
Paperback Writer Sessions.

John Lennon also played a Gretsch guitar, Lennon used a 6120
Gretsch Nashville model. Mostly it was used on the Revolver
album. There are scarce few pictures of him with it. Gretsch
reissued the mid sixties 6120 Nashville double cut, just like
John's, and it is available at Ed Roman Guitars